The walls are alive with the sound of...

[slodave]

It really is the neighbor next to me. Nothing I do makes a real diff. I am in a two story townhome. Sometimes turning on a faucet makes the noise disappear, only to come back with a vengeance after you shut the water off, other times, it does not go away. Like I mentioned earlier this evening, I came home I heard the neighbor in the shower and the pipes were still noisy. Seems to be both the hot and cold pipes. There are different pitched noises.

Any air should be long purged from the system though. The simple fact, is that the plumbers did not secure the pipes to the studs as required by code.

Dave

[Danny_Ocean]

Originally Posted by slodave

The simple fact, is that the plumbers did not secure the pipes to the studs as required by code.

Dave

They didn't pull a permit & have it inspected before closing it up? There's your bargaining chip...rent reduction or drop a dime to the building dept.

[slodave]

Originally Posted by Danny_Ocean

They didn't pull a permit & have it inspected before closing it up? There's your bargaining chip...rent reduction or drop a dime to the building dept.

That's the problem, the company apparently paid off the inspector or the "inspector" didn't actually work for the city. There was a time during the repipe, that an inspector was to come around. I was not at home that day, but know that no one ever came into my place. When I asked one of the plumbers about it, he said that the inspector only really checks every other unit. I found this a little odd, but dismissed it at the time.

How about this for a rent story...

We are in a rent control area. Over the past few years, the max allowable raise went from 3% to 5%. I get a notice end of April, saying that my rent will increase by 5% on June first. Well, rent has always gone up Sept first, the month I first moved in 9 years ago. I mention this to the manager and she tells me its always been raised on June first. Really? I can show you my old check books with the rent going up every Sept first. She then tells me "OK, you can pay the increase starting Sept first, don't worry about the owner. A few weeks later, a formal notice was on everyone's door, saying that rent will be due as it as the previous years (Sept 1 for me).

Well, it turns out, that rent raised after July 1, 2008 will drop down to a max of 3%, not 5%. I bet that most tenants will be paying an extra 2% on their rent increase coming up. I plan on talking with L.A. housing about what happened and then write a check for the allowable 3% increase come Sept 1.

[mschuep]

Do you have a HOA? See if they will hire an acoustical consultant on behalf of the tenants, or try to get the owner hire an acoustical consultant.

You could try to hire one yourself, but they are likely to charge 125/hr or more to come out and take a look, and may want to work off a retainer.

Your problem isn't water hammer related because water hammer is not a constant noise like you describe.

My guess is that there is mech equipment tranmitting noise through the piping in the walls. If I had to guess, I would say it is a water pump(s), but it could be anything in the mechanical room that comes in contact with, or is even in close proximity to the piping. After some troubleshooting to find the source of the noise, it may be recommended that your landlord isolate the mechanical equipment operating, as well as the connections to that mechanical equipment, and/or the piping to fix the problem.

For sound isolation, a hard connection to the studs is exactly what you do not want.